Bill Text: TX HB5094 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced


Bill Title: Relating to the administration of the financial responsibility verification program.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-23 - Referred to Insurance [HB5094 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HB5094-Introduced.html
  88R6812 DIO-F
 
  By: Bell of Montgomery H.B. No. 5094
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the administration of the financial responsibility
  verification program.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Sections 502.357(b), (c), and (d),
  Transportation Code, are amended to read as follows:
         (b)  Fees collected under this section shall be deposited to
  the credit of the state highway fund except that the comptroller
  shall provide for a portion of the fees to be deposited first to the
  credit of a special fund in the state treasury outside the general
  revenue fund to be known as the TexasSure Fund in a total amount
  that is necessary to cover the total amount appropriated to the
  office of the attorney general [Texas Department of Insurance] from
  that fund and for the remaining fees to be deposited to the state
  highway fund.  Subject to appropriations, the money deposited to
  the credit of the state highway fund under this section may be used
  by the Department of Public Safety to:
               (1)  support the Department of Public Safety's
  reengineering of the driver's license system to provide for the
  issuance by the Department of Public Safety of a driver's license or
  personal identification certificate, to include use of image
  comparison technology; and
               (2)  make lease payments to the master lease purchase
  program for the financing of the driver's license reengineering
  project.
         (c)  Subject to appropriation, fees collected under this
  section may be used by the Department of Public Safety, the office
  of the attorney general [Texas Department of Insurance], the
  Department of Information Resources, and the department to carry
  out Subchapter N, Chapter 601.
         (d)  The Department of Public Safety, the office of the
  attorney general [Texas Department of Insurance], the Department of
  Information Resources, and the department shall jointly adopt rules
  and develop forms necessary to administer this section.
         SECTION 2.  Section 601.451, Transportation Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         Sec. 601.451.  DEFINITION. In this subchapter,
  "implementing agencies" means:
               (1)  the department;
               (2)  the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles;
               (3)  the Texas Department of Insurance; [and]
               (4)  the Department of Information Resources; and
               (5)  the office of the attorney general.
         SECTION 3.  Section 601.452(a), Transportation Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         (a)  The office of the attorney general [Texas Department of
  Insurance] in consultation with the other implementing agencies
  shall establish a program for verification of whether owners of
  motor vehicles have established financial responsibility.  The
  program established must be:
               (1)  the program most likely to:
                     (A)  reduce the number of uninsured motorists in
  this state;
                     (B)  operate reliably;
                     (C)  be cost-effective;
                     (D)  sufficiently protect the privacy of the motor
  vehicle owners;
                     (E)  sufficiently safeguard the security and
  integrity of information provided by insurance companies;
                     (F)  identify and employ a method of compliance
  that improves public convenience; and
                     (G)  provide information that is accurate and
  current; and
               (2)  capable of being audited by an independent
  auditor.
         SECTION 4.  Section 601.453(a), Transportation Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         (a)  The office of the attorney general [Texas Department of
  Insurance] in consultation with the other implementing agencies,
  under a competitive bidding procedure, shall select an agent to
  develop, implement, operate, and maintain the program.
         SECTION 5.  Not later than January 1, 2024, the following are
  transferred from the Texas Department of Insurance to the office of
  the attorney general:
               (1)  the powers, duties, functions, and activities of
  the Texas Department of Insurance relating to the establishment and
  operation of the financial responsibility verification program
  under Subchapter N, Chapter 601, Transportation Code;
               (2)  any obligations and contracts of the Texas
  Department of Insurance that are directly related to implementing a
  power, duty, function, or activity transferred under this section;
  and
               (3)  all property and records in the custody of the
  Texas Department of Insurance that are related to a power, duty,
  function, or activity transferred under this section and all funds
  appropriated by the legislature for that power, duty, function, or
  activity.
         SECTION 6.  Not later than the 60th day after the effective
  date of this Act, the Texas Department of Insurance and the office
  of the attorney general shall enter into a memorandum of
  understanding that establishes a plan for the identification and
  transfer of the records, property, and unspent appropriations of
  the Texas Department of Insurance that are used for purposes of the
  department's powers and duties directly related to the
  establishment and operation of the financial responsibility
  verification program under Subchapter N, Chapter 601,
  Transportation Code.
         SECTION 7.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
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